29523 (2025). Tangi Utikere to the Minister of Housing

Written Question

Published date: 22 Jun 2025

Metadata

Document type:	Written Question
Parliament number:	54
Question number:	29523 (2025)
Question asked:	08 Jun 2025
Member asking:	Tangi Utikere
Portfolio:	Minister of Housing
Minister replying:	Hon Chris Bishop
Answer received:	16 Jun 2025
Status:	Question Answered
Reply type:	Reply
Document ID:	WQ_29523_2025
Document guid:	f0fc824e-1ca3-4426-9e53-891741561096

29523 (2025). Tangi Utikere to the Minister of Housing: Does he support allowing local councils to borrow more to fund growth-related infrastructure rather than relying on Development Contributions from developers, if not, why not?

Hon Chris Bishop: I support councils borrowing responsibly to finance growth-related infrastructure. However, the debt raised needs to be repaid by someone. In most circumstances, Development Contributions are a means of repaying debt incurred to provide infrastructure with growth capacity – not a means of avoiding taking on debt. If council debt is not repaid through charges on new development (such as Development Contributions), the burden instead falls on ratepayers.